The total amount cybercriminals attempted to steal via business email compromise (BEC) scams rose to an alarming average of US$301 million per month — a substantial increase from the US$110 million monthly average that was tracked in 2016.

A business email compromise (BEC) scheme took more than $100 million from Facebook and Google. Legitimate-looking invoices, contracts and more fooled the two tech companies and they wired millions to the fraudsters over a period of years.

As cybersecurity technology becomes better at detecting email-based threats, attackers continue to employ leveled up social engineering tactics – such as phishing – to increase the likelihood of users falling for fraud, identity theft, or spoofing.